replacement jar- I combined the vase and bowl into one

My shrimp bowl tested out well end of week- nitrates below ten. I had to invert the lid, because water drops kept running down over the edge outside the bowl.

Went to thrift shop and found this glass jar- it's a little larger than the gallon bowl

I like the straight sides better- filled (and rinsed clean) in my sink with measuring pitcher, it holds a gallon and a half with inch clear to the rim.

the hornwort bits did pretty well in the smaller vase, so I composted the duckweed and put hornwort as floaters in the new jar.

Had to add a few more handfuls of substrate (from the bucket out of the tenner), then replaced the rocks (pink one is on top of sponge pieces), the two anubias,

planted small rotala stems in the front, elodea in the back, and tucked subwasesrtang into corners

found a trumpet snail

overhead shot-

while all this was going on, the seven amano shrimps waited in a plastic box of tank water. Their intro, next post (more pictures)!

 

Very cute little jars! Cool to know that they're cycled too, although I'm glad you're not the type to stock with anything but shrimp and snails

They remind me of a daphnia culture I had a few years back - I kept them in a vase with sand, elodia, and a bubbler and fed them little bits of leftover veg from cooking. All went really well until I ended up with damselfly larvae - make sure they can't get into your vase as they're a nightmare haha.

 

Ooh, yeah that would not be good. Don't want mosquitoes using it as a hatching ground, either- occasionally we get one in the house (would shrimps catch and eat mosquito larvae?) Plus my cat will probably try to drink out of this- and he sheds a lot . . . I like the look of it open-top, but am probably going to fashion a lid of some kind- already there's a sprinkling of fine droplets on the table behind the vase- the filter bubbles gently it's not really splashing but it does cause some fine mist there. I don't want the table top to get damp. When the hornwort grows over the surface enough maybe it won't be a problem anymore.

I used to have the vase with just hornwort in it, that I brought in from an outdoor summer container, and I quarantined shrimp in it once. I really liked having that on the table, but eventually the hornwort thinned out it wasn't attractive anymore and I took it down. It didn't have a filter. I hope this jar works out better and lasts longer for the shrimps. Pics of the prior vase setup -it was just substrate, a few trumpet snails, and hornwort tethered on stones:

 

Oh dear, I hope your cat doesn't go fishing in it! My amanos are more than happy to grab frozen bloodworm as it floats past, so I'm sure they'd give catching live ones a go too. The only thing is making sure that you don't get inundated with the things.

That hornwort looks fantastic, but I think I prefer your current set ups

 

I doubt it. He's not interested in something so small as shrimps. He rarely even gives my paradise fishes or angelfish a glance. If it was a bird or rodent in easy reach, however . . .

Don't get me wrong, I really liked the hornwort vase too! But eventually it just wasn't great looking. It didn't have quite enough light so the stems got leggy and some died. When I moved it into more light, it got smothered in hair or thread algae. It might have worked if I'd kept a few shrimp in there to eat the algae, but at that time I wanted the shrimps in my 38gal tank.

 

my shrimps and their sponge

So the other day while I set up the new combined shrimp jar, this plastic box of water was full of subwassertang, hornwort and other small items, with the shrimps in waiting. I plucked out the items one by one to add to the jar, leaving the sponge piece last. It was funny to see all the shrimps clinging and hiding under/around the sponge when it was the last thing in there.

I floated them on it in a plastic baggie to re-acclimate to their new home, and they kept clinging to it when I gently tipped them out into the water column.

I cleaned up all my tools, towels, put stuff away, dried up water drips- and then looked in the jar again. Shrimps were still on the sponge.

It took a while for the first one to drop off, down to explore-

I went and did other stuff around the house, came back half an hour later- most of the shrimps are still on the sponge

checked another hour later- same. It was getting ridiculous- I wanted to see them crawl around in the new home I made for them! but my eight-year-old thought it was really cute: they love the sponge! she said. She insisted I keep it in there for them. I squeezed the air out so it would partially sink, and wedged it over a rock

Eventually I want to try planting that rock with moss, but for now the sponge adds some height to the decor, and the shrimps do really seem to like hanging around under it, crawling over it, picking stuff off it.

I'm glad I kept the shrimps, instead of tossing them into the angelfish tank to a probable fate- my youngest is very entertained watching them pick through the subwassertang, or trying to find and count all seven. I fed them celery leaf this morning- one tiny leaf, blanched for two minutes and mince up fine (Laddie got some too) and it was really funny to watch the shrimps scramble over it, then creep into separate corners with their handfuls.

When I was done setting up the new jar my daughter exclaimed: "Hey, it looks like a real little tank now! Not like one of those fishbowls you see on TV with a goldfish in it-" that last said in a scornful tone- I guess I've made a proper example, ha, that such is my kid's opinion of a goldfish in a bowl!

 

When critters ( fish or otherwise) don't behave like I want them to, I call that animal control. My pets have me trained well. LOL Cute jar, by the way.

 

I tied the sponge semicircle with a short piece of monofilament line to a suction cup, now it stays near the filter uplift. Before it kept drifting around, sometimes sinking, and I'd rather not see it much, plus this reduces splash out onto the tabletop

and now it's mostly hidden from front view by the hornwort floaters.

Some of the mermaid weed started decaying, other parts of the stem sent out roots from the nodes. I cut it in half, discarded the rotting parts, and tucked the healthy pieces back into corners. Temporarily shorter now.

Shrimps are thriving! I feed them once or twice a week- a bit of green (blanched lettuce, celery, smidge of pea) or powder swiped off the inside wall of the fish flake can. That's it. They've nearly picked apart the first two oak leaves I put in there. I'm very pleased this little bowl seems to do fine with all seven shrimps, it's remained cycled and has no issues so far.

I had to replant a few of the rotala stems- the shrimps tend to pull them up if they're really going for some food bit they smell that fell down there. They're as persistent as squirrels!

 

My paradise fish didn't want his breakfast today (he's sick). It was a small pinch of micro pellets, only about seven or eight tiny pellets. I dropped them in the shrimp bowl. Now the shrimps are zinging around the bowl like crazy, scuttling for the one piece nobody's found yet, and trying to shove each other out of the way. It's kind of odd to sit here across the room, out of the corner of my eye the large tank is very still, and the small bowl full of activity.

 

Um, I just did something mean and fed a shrimp to my paradise fish.

I noticed the other day one of my shrimps was looking kinda orange, and not moving around much. This morning I saw it sitting motionless on a plant; when I dropped in a bit of crushed flake the other shrimps (normal in color) dashed around like mad, this one just moved its legs slowly. In my limited experience with shrimps, it was probably going to die soon. Rather than watch it go slow, getting torn apart by the other shrimps- which would distress my kid to see btw- I plucked it out with tweezers (way too easy- it didn't even try to run away) and dropped it in my paradise fish tank.

The end was very very quick.

The bowl has a different look. I added some buces, the mermaid weed is growing new foliage steadily, the hornwort melted away and I replaced it with greater duckweed (spirodela polyrhiza). I tied some flame moss onto the large pinkish rock in the middle- tightly with many small rubber bands going criss-cross. So far the shrimps- busy picking at it constantly- have not dislodged this like they did the fissidens off the mesh. So I'm eager to see if the flame moss grows out in here okay. Will post photos as soon as I find time to take and upload some.

 

Maybe mean. Maybe mercy. No second guessing in these matters. Whatever path you chose is the right path.

 

Think about how often this happens in tanks with shrimp and fish. Don't feel bad about assisting with that circle of life.

 

Managed to get a few photos. Growth on the mermaid weed:

shrimps all over the moss tied to a rock:

I've added a few buces from the betta's tank:

and there's now greater duckweed as floaters

 

I’m fascinated by this concept and will be following along. I might look to do something similar.

I have Bloody Mary (cherry) shrimp in my low tech tank and they breed prolifically but I’m unhappy with the quality of the fry. To lift the quality I’m keen to ruthlessly clean out the adults but don’t want to put some of the better quality culls “reserves” in the main aquarium where (while some survive) they would be at risk from the rainbow fish. This jar concept might be a good holding spot without needing to launch a full on third tank.


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@zmartin, it seems to be going very well so far. Only caveat is I don't have any kind of mini heater for my jar- the amanos can survive winter temps in this room (down to 60 degrees, we conserve heat) I've had them like that before- but their extremities turn blue, and they slow down a ton from the cold.

I lost all the floaters I originally put in here- hornwort and a bit of water lettuce. I think the nutrients were just too darn low- I've been changing out a half gallon of water every other week but maybe that's overkill- I'm thinking of doing only a quart wc now, or even just topping off instead.

 

This shrimp jar is still doing fine. I was gone for a week recently, and instead of eating some older anubias leaves mottled with algae I had clipped off and left drifting, the shrimps picked apart the elodea stems. I removed what was left of that. Buces and mermaid weed are doing great in here. The flame moss I tried tying onto a rock all turned yellow and looks dead. Going to remove that and try fissidens.

 

My shrimp jar has a little rearrangement. I trimmed the mermaid weed and replanted tops near the center,

then removed dead moss and tied some buces onto the pink stone

I think it's rather nice the older mermaid weed foliage hasn't melted away just kept its original form and stayed green. Didn't expect that.

Also there's a new - temporary- inhabitant in here.

I got a few guppies from my local fish club, in a container of snails (see window tank thread). The larger female, with a squared-off abdomen, probably holding fry, I put here in the shrimp jar. Temporarily. I didn't want her to be stressed by a predator right away, hoping to see her drop fry at least once?

She's the same size as a shrimp. She was hiding so still among the plants at first, the shrimps walked up and tried to grab her.

I don't usually feed the shrimp jar more than twice a week, but I sprinkled a bit of 'bug bites' in there, and saw her eat some. Am doing partial wc every other day while she's in here.

Incidentally, I seem to have lost another shrimp when I was gone for a week end of July. There's only five now. Of those, one is starting to look rather orange, and its motions are slowing down. I think he'll be next to go . . .

 

I moved the guppy into the window tank.

There's only four shrimp now. The one turned orange quit moving around, not even when I dropped food in. This time I put it in the angelfish tank. M Beautiful darted after it but I didn't see her eat it. I don't know if the shrimp is still crawling around in there hiding somewhere. I'm starting to wonder if something about my shrimp jar is less-than-optimal conditions for them. Or are they just one at a time reaching their end. My oldest of the group I've had over two years...

 

My shrimps have been feasting. When Laddie the paradise fish kills ramshorn snails but doesn't eat their bodies (happens a lot I found) I've been dropping the dead snails into the shrimp jar. This is before they are really stinking, btw. It sure keeps those shrimps busy! each will claim a snail and sit there picking picking for over 24 hrs it seems:

 

Here's how my shrimp jar looked last week:

Then I dropped in some elodea pieces the shrimps have been picking over-

there's lots of shells from snails Laddie has eaten. I always thought my water was plenty hard enough, but funny I saw the first molted shrimp exoskeletons after I started dropping in ramshorn shells.

Um, I added a few pieces of parrot's feather. it's real nice to see feathery green foliage filling the bowl- and happy shrimps crawling all over it- but maybe a bit alarming how fast it grows. This piece on the left with folded up top, unfurled and shot taller than the nearby mermaid weed in one day.

I'm torn between loving its ferny appearance and vigor, and fearing I will regret having bought it, haha.

Topside- last week:

few days ago:

now:

 

Beautiful tank! For some reason, I want sashimi now.

Cheers

 

I took the tiny sponge filter out of my shrimp bowl to drop in the tetras' QT which is unfortunately still in mini-cycle. And then while I was at it took all the plants out (putting the shrimps in a container with all the floaters and some subwassertang meanwhile) and rearranged everything.

My idea was to have the largest plants grouped center on and around rocks, with subwassertang tucked in a ring around the edges, so that which ever way I rotate the bowl (to keep the plants in there from leaning all one direction) there's something interesting as focal point.

One side has the mermaid weed and parrot's feather

The biggest rock has buce on it-

Some new tiny leaves grew! but look a bit pale. I need to cut off that lower leaf- looks like BBA started to edge

I think the anubias has grown quite a lot-

Replanting the rotala stems made them so short they kinda got lost in the subwassertang-

Final touch was tucking a few leaves in

Topside:

I was a bit concerned how the shrimps would do without a filter running- and they hid for the first few hours after reintroduction so it's hard to tell. But now are out and about again, look just fine. Some of the plants were even pearling.

I feel like the jar has a more wild (or cluttered) look to it now

I'm not perfectly happy with it though. I'd rather see the smaller stems more, and I think the extra rock and sponge pieces take up too much space- I kept them in there to avoid loosing bacteria and drop into a cycle. Might rescape again and pull more things out, but I'll wait and see how the parrot's feather and mermaid weed do after more time, first . . .

 

Nice-- I like it alot!

 

Thank you!

 

Relocated my shrimp bowl upstairs to the bedroom. Its spot was needed by QT tank, and I kind of miss having a tank in my room. Easiest tank move ever- I just picked the whole thing up and carried it. Didn't need to remove any water or livestock!

Upstairs is a few degrees warmer in winter, which will be good for the shrimps too. It's always fun to see them crawling around upsidedown on the duckweed root hairs! I think this jar must be rather old- the glass is thick and a bit hazy.

Not sure how the light exposure here compares to the spot it was in before- it's indirect bright light as well but could be different enough- have to wait and see how the plants do.

For a while it was completely no tech (the miniature sponge filter being used in QT). Everything was still alive, however the shrimps very lethargic. They'd wave a feeler, pick at food- but as if in slow motion. So I put in an airstone, with a valve to keep the flow gentle (and it's quiet enough doesn't disturb my sleep).

Immediately the shrimps became lively and active again. Here's one under an anubias leaf.

Another on the pink buce rock-

Both in the same shot-

Another benefit of moving the shrimp jar- all the other tanks are on the same floor but this one, so I'm less likely to overfeed, more likely to leave them to pick at algae and debris. Which is better overall for the jar, I think.